From Jules Siegel's article, "Goodbye surfing, hello God!"
At home, as the black acetate dub turned on his bedroom hi-fi set, Wilson tried to explain the words.
"It's a man at a concert," he said. "All around him there's the audience, playing their roles, dressed up in fancy clothes, looking through opera glasses, but so far away from the drama, fromlife. Back through the opera glass you see the pit and the pendulum drawn. "The music begins to take over. 'Columnated ruins domino.' Empires, ideas, lives, institutions;everything has to fall, tumbling like dominoes. "He begins to awaken to the music; sees the pretentiousness of everything. 'The music hall a costly bow.' Then even the music is gone, turned into a trumpeter swan, into what the music really is. "Canvas the town and brush the backdrop.' He's off in his vision, on a trip. Reality is gone; he's creating it like a dream. Dove-nested towers.' Europe, a long time ago. 'The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne.' The poor people in the cellar taverns, trying to make themselves happy by singing. "Then there's the parties, the 'drinking, trying to forget the wars, the battles at sea. "While at port a do or die.' Ships in the harbor, battling it out. A kind of Roman empire thing. "'A choke of grief.' At his own sorrow and the emptiness of his life. because
he can't even cry for the suffering in the world, for his own suffering. "And then, hope. 'Surf's up! . . . Come about hard and join the once and often spring you gave.' Go back to the kids, to the beach, to childhood. "'I heard the word'of God; 'Wonderful thing';the joy of enlightenment, of seeing God. And what is it? 'A children's song!' And then there's the song itself; the song of children; the song of the universe rising and falling in wave after wave, the song of God, hiding the love from us, but always letting us find it again, like a mother singing to her children."
@almcn82 I saw this too! I'm glad I'm not the only one, and if these are indeed Brian's words then I am especially pleased.
@almcn82 I saw this too! I'm glad I'm not the only one, and if these are indeed Brian's words then I am especially pleased.
I interpret this song as aristocratic date where a lady of commonwealth disguises herself to go on a date with a wealthier man. They attended the opera and after go to a party, where things go awry and the lady leaves the man. I have no clue what the "child is the father" section is all about but this assumption provides some context as to why Brian felt it should conclude the Wonderful Suite - though it can still work well with the Barnyard/Americana Suite as that one talks about the industrial era: a time where the wealthy would sport canes (batons) and attend the opera via carriage escorts.
From Jules Siegel's article, "Goodbye surfing, hello God!"
At home, as the black acetate dub turned on his bedroom hi-fi set, Wilson tried to explain the words.
"It's a man at a concert," he said. "All around him there's the audience, playing their roles, dressed up in fancy clothes, looking through opera glasses, but so far away from the drama, fromlife. Back through the opera glass you see the pit and the pendulum drawn. "The music begins to take over. 'Columnated ruins domino.' Empires, ideas, lives, institutions;everything has to fall, tumbling like dominoes. "He begins to awaken to the music; sees the pretentiousness of everything. 'The music hall a costly bow.' Then even the music is gone, turned into a trumpeter swan, into what the music really is. "Canvas the town and brush the backdrop.' He's off in his vision, on a trip. Reality is gone; he's creating it like a dream. Dove-nested towers.' Europe, a long time ago. 'The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne.' The poor people in the cellar taverns, trying to make themselves happy by singing. "Then there's the parties, the 'drinking, trying to forget the wars, the battles at sea. "While at port a do or die.' Ships in the harbor, battling it out. A kind of Roman empire thing. "'A choke of grief.' At his own sorrow and the emptiness of his life. because he can't even cry for the suffering in the world, for his own suffering. "And then, hope. 'Surf's up! . . . Come about hard and join the once and often spring you gave.' Go back to the kids, to the beach, to childhood. "'I heard the word'of God; 'Wonderful thing';the joy of enlightenment, of seeing God. And what is it? 'A children's song!' And then there's the song itself; the song of children; the song of the universe rising and falling in wave after wave, the song of God, hiding the love from us, but always letting us find it again, like a mother singing to her children."
@almcn82 I saw this too! I'm glad I'm not the only one, and if these are indeed Brian's words then I am especially pleased.
@almcn82 I saw this too! I'm glad I'm not the only one, and if these are indeed Brian's words then I am especially pleased.
I interpret this song as aristocratic date where a lady of commonwealth disguises herself to go on a date with a wealthier man. They attended the opera and after go to a party, where things go awry and the lady leaves the man. I have no clue what the "child is the father" section is all about but this assumption provides some context as to why Brian felt it should conclude the Wonderful Suite - though it can still work well with the Barnyard/Americana Suite as that one talks about the industrial era: a time where the wealthy would sport canes (batons) and attend the opera via carriage escorts.